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Matthew Pouliot

Strike Zone

June Outfielder Rankings

Welcome to the June outfielder rankings. Players are ranked based on how I believe they will perform in 5x5 leagues over the remainder of the season. Along with the position rankings, you'll soon find a fully updated top 250 list.

So, I pretty clearly blew it by placing Bryce Harper 87th and Mike Trout 106th in the preseason rankings. I wasn't confident that talent would win out, especially not in Trout's case with what seemed like an extensive logjam in front of him. Anyway, those mistakes have been corrected now. Placing Trout third could be considered overly aggressive, but while he will hit a rough patch, he's likely to keep running wild on the basepaths all year long. I wasn't willing to go quite so high on Harper, since he doesn't have the steals to fall back on. As pleasant of a surprise as he has been so far, I don't think he'll maintain his current .303 average or .548 slugging percentage.

I imagine Josh Hamilton is lower than most would like at No. 7. I still think he's as big of an injury risk as any AL regular.

I'm banking on Justin Upton's lingering injuries not being severe enough to hold him back all year long. With just five homers and 22 RBI to date, he's been one of the NL's bigger disappointments. I still think he's going to be good for 18-20 homers or so the rest of the way, though.

Welcome to the June outfielder rankings. Players are ranked based on how I believe they will perform in 5x5 leagues over the remainder of the season. Along with the position rankings, you'll soon find a fully updated top 250 list.

So, I pretty clearly blew it by placing Bryce Harper 87th and Mike Trout 106th in the preseason rankings. I wasn't confident that talent would win out, especially not in Trout's case with what seemed like an extensive logjam in front of him. Anyway, those mistakes have been corrected now. Placing Trout third could be considered overly aggressive, but while he will hit a rough patch, he's likely to keep running wild on the basepaths all year long. I wasn't willing to go quite so high on Harper, since he doesn't have the steals to fall back on. As pleasant of a surprise as he has been so far, I don't think he'll maintain his current .303 average or .548 slugging percentage.

I imagine Josh Hamilton is lower than most would like at No. 7. I still think he's as big of an injury risk as any AL regular.

I'm banking on Justin Upton's lingering injuries not being severe enough to hold him back all year long. With just five homers and 22 RBI to date, he's been one of the NL's bigger disappointments. I still think he's going to be good for 18-20 homers or so the rest of the way, though.